Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Jimmy Smith

Groovin’ at Smalls’ Paradise, Volume 1

c. 1961-1966 · Blue Note BLP 1585 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Blue Note
Catalogue number	BLP 1585
Year	c. 1961-1966
Mono / Stereo	Mono
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Jazz - Soul Jazz/Hard Bop (live organ trio)
Producer	Alfred Lion
Musicians	Jimmy Smith (organ), Eddie McFadden (guitar), Donald Bailey (drums)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BN-LP-1585-A EAR RVG
Side B:  BN-LP-1585-B EAR RVG 1

Condition

Cover: VG+
Vinyl: VG+

Variant chronology

1958 - US Blue Note BLP 1585, 47 West 63rd label without Inc or ®, both sides
1961-1966 - US Blue Note BLP 1585, Blue Note Records Inc mono repress, mixed deep-groove labels (47 West 63rd on one side, New York USA on the other)  <- this copy
1966 - US Blue Note BLP 1585/BST 81585, Liberty-era mono repress
1966 - US Blue Note BST 81585, Liberty Pressing stereo reissue
1971 - US Blue Note BST 81585 stereo reissue
1971 - United Artists/Blue Note stereo reissue
1975 - US Blue Note BST 81585 stereo reissue
1975 - Blue Note stereo reissue (two pressings)
1984 - Japan Blue Note BLP 1585 mono reissue
2019 - US/Europe Blue Note BLP 1585/0822929 mono reissue

This Pressing

Mono repress, c. 1961-1966 - mixed deep-groove labels (47 West 63rd on one side, New York USA on the other) place this copy at or after the turnover between Blue Note's fourth and fifth label designs in late 1961, after the 1958 first-pressing window; RVG stamp and Plastylite ear etched in the runout of both sides.

The Album

Recorded live at Smalls' Paradise in Harlem on November 15, 1957, this album captures organist Jimmy Smith's working trio with guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey in the club setting where Smith had electrified New York audiences less than two years earlier. Smith's arrival on Blue Note in 1956 had already reshaped jazz by establishing the Hammond B-3 organ as a lead voice capable of carrying a trio with the harmonic sophistication of a horn or piano, and this in-person document shows the format at its rawest and most spontaneous, free of studio polish. The set pairs a soulful reading of Avery Parrish's after-hours blues standard with a ballad feature on My Funny Valentine, Smith's own blues-drenched original Slightly Monkish, and a lyrical take on the film theme Laura, giving a compact but representative cross-section of his vocabulary - gospel-rooted groove, bebop-informed improvisation, and tender ballad phrasing. Issued alongside a companion Volume 2 drawn from the same night's performance, the two-LP pairing remains a touchstone of the classic soul-jazz organ-trio format and cemented the Smalls' Paradise engagements as a milestone in Smith's rapid ascent. Critics and historians regard this live document as a key marker in the development of the organ-combo sound that would influence a generation of soul-jazz organists through the 1960s.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. After Hours (Avery Parrish)
2. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers-Hart)

Side 2

1. Slightly Monkish (Jimmy Smith)
2. Laura (Raksin)

The Label

Side 1 of this copy carries the Blue Note Records Inc label reading 47 West 63rd, NYC, the design the company used from 1959 into 1962, while Side 2 carries the Blue Note Records Inc label reading New York USA, the design that replaced it and ran from late 1961 to 1966; both sides show a deep-groove ring. Blue Note used up its printed-label stock gradually rather than switching all at once, so a single pressing run could pair the two designs on opposite sides of the same record, and a copy with this pairing cannot predate the New York USA label's arrival in late 1961. That places this pressing as a mono repress rather than the original 1958 issue, which carries the 47 West 63rd address without Inc or the registered-trademark mark on both sides.

Fidelity

This pressing was cut by Rudy Van Gelder, and the Plastylite ear etched in the runout shows it was still pressed by Plastylite rather than at the plants Liberty used from the mid-1960s onward. As a repress struck no earlier than the late-1961 label changeover, it carries the same mastering as the 1958 original but was pressed some years later, placing it a step below a first-pressing copy in the fidelity hierarchy while still ranking above the mid/late-1960s Liberty repressings, the stereo reissues, and the CD editions for immediacy. Collectors on the forums continue to regard any Van Gelder-cut, Plastylite-eared mono pressing of this era as preferable to later reissues, including modern all-analog audiophile remasters, since those work from tape generations removed from this lacquer-era cut even though they offer quieter surfaces.

Notes

This copy's two sides carry different Blue Note Inc label printings - one reading 47 West 63rd, NYC, the other New York USA - a pairing that cannot predate the New York USA design's arrival in late 1961. That makes it a mono repress of BLP 1585 rather than the 1958 original, which carries the 47 West 63rd address without Inc or the registered-trademark mark on both sides. Deep groove is present on both sides, and the runout etchings carry the RVG stamp and the Plastylite ear alongside the hand-etched matrix numbers BN-LP-1585-A and BN-LP-1585-B, features used across this later pressing window and not exclusive to the first issue.

Documenting collections

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